Improvement in roller-cases for maps and charts



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Letters Patent No. 91,766, dated June 22,v 1869.

'IMPROVEMENT IN ROLl'aIEiR-CIASIE!SV FOR MAPS ANDCHARTS.

The Schedule'refened to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To allwhom it may concern Be it known that I, JAMES S. OSTRANDER, of the city and county of Albany, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Mode of Constructing, Arranging, and Operating Rollers for Preserving and Exhibiting Songs, Sheet-Music, Maps, or other articles of similar nature; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l represents a perspective view of the inven tion.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the same.

Figure 3 is a cross-section of the same.

Figure 4 is a view through red line No. 5, in fig. 2, viewed towards the side ofthe box.A

It is desirable, and 'of great advantage iu many cases, to be able to exhibit at will any one of a collection of songs, sheet-music, maps, charts, and the like, to scholars or others, without the inconvenience of hanginglor unhanging any of the said articles to he examined or referred to, which articles generally require (especially insehools, academies, and colleges) some conspicuous place, for proper exhibition to all interested therein. p

Several devices have been used, whereby the said articles could be conspicuously displayed at will, but they do nottpossess all that is desirable to make their use general or practical in many cases.

By my invention, Sabbath or other school-rooms, lecture-rooms, public halls, private studies, dwellings, and oces, may4 possess and afford opportunity for the exhibition of a great variety of subjects for consideration or lessons for practice, and anyand all of which subjects (if represented) could be under the readyand direct control of the instructor, lecturer, or exhibitor.

The nature of my invention consists in using rollers', provided with feathered spindles on-one of their ends, and working into slotted bearings, provided with a projecting piece, facing the ends of the roller, whereby the rolling or nnrolling of the cnrtaiu-materialV or the like thereon may be stopped at any-point desired.

The said rollers may be placed in one or more rows in a box, which may be supported by brackets, or

otherwise, from a wall, partition, or any other placeV in a .room which might be desirable.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe it, in reference to the drawings, and the letters of reference marked thereon, the same letters indicatinglike parts.

A, figs. 1, 2, 3, `and 4, represents a box furnished with a permanent cover, A', in which are to be placed the rollers B, furnished with maps, hymns, sheetmusic, and the like, to be exhibited.

The said box may be secured to'the ceiling, by screws or' other equivalent devices, as in tig. 2, ormay be secured to a wall or partition, from its back side, as in iig. 3or may be supported by brackets, not shown.

The rollers B are inserted in their places from the lower and open side of the box A, and are placed in rows, two or more, one above the other, as shown in fig. 3,'and in such a manner asrwill cause the fall of the material No. 1 (to be exhibited) to pass clear of that 4of N o. 2, and No. 3 clear of No. 4, and so on, so

that the surface of the material, rolled or unrolled from v above, will not rub against those below. y

This is essential, especiallyin stencilled hymns, songs, and music-lessousfwhere the ink of the one would be apt to rnb on the surface o`f the other,.and thus mar or discolor the surfaces in contact.

To prevent the nnrolliug of the material from the rollers, and to hold in view a limited portion `of the said material, with its map or lesson, and the like, thereon, I make, on the spindles b, figs. 1, 2, and 4, the feathers c, which act against-the stops e,Av secured y to the inside of the end of the box, as shown'in figs. 1 and 4. The spindles b work in the slots S, made in the end of the box, as shown in figs. 1 and 4; and when any of the rollers are to'be removed, they are so turned as will bring the feather c, on the spindle b, in position. of c, No. 2, when the roller is pushed eudwise toward the slot S, and drawing the spindle b'of the roller out of its bearing, and lopping it'down, the feathered spindleis drawn back from its bearing and the roller is released. ToV insert the rollers, the operation is reversed. v

When the rollers are at rest, theircentre lines '(red line, No. 1,) are slightly deviated from a horizontal line, (red lineNo. 2;) and to be operated for rolling or unrolling, their centres are to be raised, at their feath ered spipdle-ends, slightly above the horizontal line to that of red line No. 3.

The spindles b of these rollers are furnished with squared ends, and are intended to be operated by a device invented by myself, and termed the winding staff.

To operate this invention, the lessons, maps, songs, and the like, to be exhibited, are properly attached to the rollers B, and rolled thereon,'as shownin iig. 3, so that those on the upper rollers will fall clear of those on the lower, ones when the wrench, or key of the winding-stati, is slipped on the squared end of the spindle b of the roller to be operated, and slightly elevated'in position of red line No. 3, iig. 2, so that the feather c will be thrown out of contact with the stop e, when the said roller can be revolved in either direction, as may be desired; and when a suiicient portion of the material thereon has been rolled or unrolled, the roller is allowed to drop down to line N o. 1, when it will be xed so as to uuroll no further.

Having described my invention, I

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Pat ent, is

In combination 'with the rollers B, the feathered y spindles c, stops e, and slottedbearings S, Substanz, tially as and for the purpoes'set forth.

JAMES S. OSTRANDER.

Witnesses ALEX. SELKIRK, JAMEs'A. Beckens, Jr. 

